I02> 7 








'-- 4 . ' I 1 • •*•/'-«?/•.. *>,.V :r 

■•;-% r- A- fiaBSuk i 

k,.,.’-. -j: rJQh-v-J 

tW&: : y. ' = 

• v '■' ■:/■ ■ ■ ar< • £• v«. v ■<& ; • ..•.-i’ 






■ tmSt 




A* V-Y SH'.i /ar.*.-V >• fA-.ffk ' ( ' • W.V* . "T , 










' w m ms*' ^ rjMl i ,-* 


sKEY-:. f >» ifr,**f&SH S 

.■•£•/* ,i a* I-*;-.- . V 7,. i- 
;-* 3 «- ■ • •■ - 1 -.‘las ■ w? ;., 




/ . :.'H ! a',---.;■'V v '- : ',v :V’r? y\ r :- : Vf^ 

. :>. : . - ;; 


I - • | &lp- A > rag -m 4 ; ;*•• 

\w- l£&£•;?•; *g& fig .;, A W^SSsSSr «K • i y wA& 


f::- . &»<«& -Y, .: rv§R >:-W.4 - . 


■>-.■• , -■ ■ '■ v- -:i. 

■ 


'£"r 












»s- AStib 








• r<- 




ft; JV ' 


AV r 


sfe: 


,■>>: .(4 •'! J 


V.iC y | 




K r-SFr-vffi ci\m •' ■;■ '>' 
; ^ ,"r.... 4 *fc?. 










g/T 4 * '*.V 




feK 






m 

































l 037 

y^\ 

An Historical Reading List For Children 


Compiled by Leonore St. John Power, Librarian in 
charge, Central children’s room, New York public library. 
Reprinted, by special permission of the publishers, from 
The story of mankind, by Hendrik Van Loon (Boni & 
Liveright, 1921. $5.) 

T"\ON’T stop (I say) to explain that Hebe was (for 
once) the legitimate daughter of Zeus and, as such, 
had the privilege to draw wine for the Gods. Don’t even 
stop, just yet, to explain who the Gods were. Don’t dis¬ 
course on amber, otherwise ambergris; don’t explain that 
‘gris’ in this connection doesn’t mean ‘grease’; don’t trace 
it through the Arabic into Noah’s Ark; don’t prove its 
electrical properties by tearing up paper into little bits and 
attracting them with the mouth-piece of your pipe rubbed 
on your sleeve. Don’t insist philologically that when 
every shepherd ‘tells his tale’ he is not relating an 
anecdote but simply keeping ‘tally’ of his flock. Just 
go on reading as well as you can, and be sure that when 
the children get the thrill of the story, for which you 
wait, they will be asking more questions, and pertinent 
ones, than you are able to answer.”—(“On the Art of 
Reading for Children,” by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.) 

The Days Before History 

“How the Present Came from the Past,” by Margaret 
E. Wells, Volume I. 

How earliest man learned to make tools and build 
homes, and the stories he told about the fire-makers, the 

1 

* % 


















,P«U 

sun and the frost. A simple, illustrated account of these 
things for children. 

“The Story of Ab,” by Stanley Waterloo. 

A romantic tale of the time of the cave-man. (A much 
simplified edition of this for little children is “Ab, the Cave 
Man” adapted by William Lewis Nida.) 

“Industrial and Social History Series,” by Katharine E. 
Dopp. 

“The Tree Dwellers—The Age of Fear.” 

“The Early Cave-Men—The Age of Combat.” 

“The Later Cave-Men”—The Age of the Chase.” 

“The Early Sea People—First Steps in the Conquest of 
Waters.” 

“The Tent-Dwellers—The Early Fishing Men.” 

Very simple stories of the way in which man learned 
how to make pottery, how to weave and spin, and how to 
conquer land and sea. 

“Ancient Man,” written and drawn and done into colour 
by Hendrik Willem Van Loon. 

The beginning of civilisations pictured and written in a 
new and fascinating fashion, with story maps showing ex¬ 
actly what happened in all parts of the world. A book 
for children of all ages. 

The Dawn of History 

“The Civilisation of the Ancient Egyptians,” by A. Both- 
well Gosse. 

“No country possesses so many wonders, and has such a 
number of works which defy description.” An excellent, 
profusely illustrated account of the domestic life, amuse¬ 
ments, art, religion and occupations of these wonderful 
people. J 0 

2 



.V\C^p- 


0* 

{ 


“How the Present Came from the Past,” by Margaret E. 
Wells, Volume II. 

What the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians 
and the Persians contributed to civilisation. This is brief 
and simple and may be used as a first book on the subject. 

“Stories of Egyptian Gods and Heroes,” by F. H. Brooks- 
bank. 

The beliefs of the Egyptians, the legend of Isis and 
Osiris, the builders of the Pyramids and the Temples, the 
Riddle of the Sphinx, all add to the fascination of this ro¬ 
mantic picture of Egypt. 

“Wonder Tales of the Ancient World,” by Rev. James 
Baikie. 

Tales of the Wizards, Tales of Travel and Adventure, 
and Legends of the Gods all gathered from ancient Egyp¬ 
tian literature. 


“Ancient Assyria,” by Rev. James Baikie. 

Which tells of a city 2800 years ago with a street lined 
with beautiful enamelled reliefs, and with libraries of clay. 

“The Bible for Young People,” arranged from the King 
James version, with twenty-four full page illustra¬ 
tions from old masters. 

“Old, Old Tales from the Old, Old Book,” by Nora Archi¬ 
bald Smith. 

“Written in the East these characters live forever in the 
West—they pervade the world.” A good rendering of the 
Old Testament. 

“The Jewish Fairy Book,” translated and adapted by 
Gerald Friedlander. 


Stories of great nobility and beauty from the Talmud 
and the old Jewish chap-books. 

3 


“Eastern Stories and Legends,” by Marie L. Shedlock. 

“The soldiers of Alexander who had settled in the East, 
wandering merchants of many nations and climes, crusad¬ 
ing knights and hermits brought these Buddha Stories 
from the East to the West.” 

Stories of Greece and Rome 
“The Story of the Golden Age,” by James Baldwin. 

Some of the most beautiful of the old Greek myths wov¬ 
en into the story of the Odyssey make this book a good in¬ 
troduction to the glories of the Golden Age. 

“A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales,” by Nathaniel 
Hawthorne, with pictures by Maxfield Parrish. 

“The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy,” by 
Padraic Colum, presented by Willy Pogany. 

An attractive, poetically rendered account of “the 
world’s greatest story.” 

“The Story of Rome,” by Mary Macgregor, with twenty 
plates in colour. 

Attractively illustrated and simply presented story of 
Rome from the earliest times to the death of Augustus. 

“Plutarch’s Lives for Boys and Girls,” retold by W. H. 
Weston. 

“The Lays of Ancient Rome,” by Lord Macaulay. 

“The early history of Rome is indeed far more poetical 
than anything else in Latin Literature.” 

“Children of the Dawn,” by Elsie Finnemore Buckley. 

Old Greek tales of love, adventure, heroism, skill, 
achievement, or defeat exceptionally well told. Especially 
recommended for girls. 


4 


“The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children,” by 
Charles Kingsley. 

“The Story of Greece,” by Mary Macgregor, with nine¬ 
teen plates in colour by Walter Crane. 

Attractively illustrated and simply presented—a good 
book to begin on. 

Christianity 

“The Story of Jesus,” pictures from paintings by Giotto, 
Fra Angelico, Duccio, Ghirlandais, and Bamja-da- 
Siena. Descriptive text from the New Testament, se¬ 
lected and arranged by Ethel Natalie Dana. 

A beautiful book and a beautiful way to present the 
Christ Story. 

“A Child’s Book of Saints,” by William Canton. 

Sympathetically told and charmingly written stories of 
men and women whose faith brought about strange mir¬ 
acles, and whose goodness to man and beast set the world 
wondering. 

“The Seven Champions of Christendom,” edited by F. J. 
H. Darton. 

How the knights of old—St. George of England, St. 
Denis of France, St. James of Spain, and others—fought 
with enchanters and evil spirits to preserve the Kingdom of 
God. Fine old romances interestingly told for children. 
“Stories from the Christian East,” by Stephen Gaselee. 

Unusual stories which have been translated from the 
Coptic, the Greek, the Latin and the Ethiopic. 

“Jerusalem and the Crusades,” by Estelle Blyth, with eight 
plates in colour. 

Historical stories telling how children and priests, her¬ 
mits and knights all strove to keep the Cross in the East. 

5 


Stories of Legend and Chivalry 
“Stories of Norse Heroes from the Eddas and Sagas,” re¬ 
told by E. M. Wilmot-Buxton. 

These are tales which the Northmen tell concerning the 
wisdom of All-Father Odin, and how all things began and 
how they ended. A good book for all children, and for 
story-tellers. 

“The Story of Siegfried,” by James Baldwin. 

A good introduction to this Northern hero whose strange 
and daring deeds fill the pages of the old sagas. 

“The Story of King Arthur and His Knights,” written 
and illustrated by Howard Pyle. 

This, and the companion volumes, “The Story of the 
Champions of the Round Table,” “The Story of Sir Laun- 
celot and His Companions,” “The Story of the Grail and 
the Passing of Arthur,” form an incomparable collection 
for children. 

“The Boy’s King Arthur,” edited by Sidney Lanier, illus¬ 
trated by N. C. Wyeth. 

A very good rendering of Malory’s King Arthur, made 
especially attractive by the coloured illustrations. 

“Irish Fairy Tales,” by James Stephens, illustrated by 
Arthur Rackham. 

Beautifully pictured and poetically told legends of Ire¬ 
land’s epic hero Fionn. A book for the boy or girl who 
loves the old romances, and a book for story-telling or 
reading aloud. 

“Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France,” 
by A. J. Church. 

Stories from the old French and English chronicles 
showing the romantic glamour surrounding the great 
Charlemagne and his crusading knights, 

6 


“The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood,” written and 
illustrated by Howard Pyle. 

Both in picture and in story this book holds first place 
in the hearts of children. 

“A Book of Ballad Stories,” by Mary Macleod. 

Good prose versions of some of the famous old ballads 
sung by the minstrels of England and Scotland. 

“The Story of Roland,” by James Baldwin. 

“There is, in short, no country in Europe, and no lan¬ 
guage, in which the exploits of Charlemagne and Roland 
have not at some time been recounted and sung.” This 
book will serve as a good introduction to a fine heroic 
character. 

“The Boy’s Froissart,” being Sir John Froissart’s Chron¬ 
icles of Adventure, Battle, and Custom in England, 
France, Spain. 

“Froissart sets the boy’s mind upon manhood and the 
man’s mind upon boyhood.” An invaluable background 
for the future study of history. 

“The Boy’s Percy,” being old ballads of War, Adventure 
and Love from Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English 
Poetry, edited by Sidney Lanier. 

“He who walks in the way these following ballads point, 
will be manful in necessary fight, loyal in love, generous 
to the poor, tender in the household, prudent in living, 
merry upon occasion, and honest in all things.” 

“Tales of the Canterbury Pilgrims,” retold from Chaucer 
and others, by E. J. H. Darton. 

“Sometimes a pilgrimage seemed nothing but an ex¬ 
cuse for a lively and pleasant holiday, and the travellers 
often made themselves very merry on the road, with their 

7 


jests and songs, and their flutes and fiddles and bagpipes.” 
A good prose version much enjoyed by boys and girls. 
“Joan of Arc,” written and illustrated by M. Boutet de 
Monvel. 

A very fine interpretation of the life of this great hero¬ 
ine. A book to be owned by every boy and girl. 

“When Knights Were Bold,” by Eva March Tappan. 

Telling of the training of a knight, of the daily life in 
a castle, of pilgrimages and crusades, of merchant guilds, 
of schools and literature, in short, a full picture of life in 
the days of chivalry. A good book to supplement the 
romantic stories of the time. 

Adventurers in New Worlds 

“A Book of Discovery,” by M. B. Synge, fully illustrated 
from authentic sources and with maps. 

A thoroughly fascinating book about the world’s ex¬ 
ploration from the earliest times to the discovery of the 
South Pole. A book to be owned by older boys and girls 
who like true tales of adventure. 

“A Short History of Discovery From the Earliest Times 
to the Founding of the Colonies on the American 
Continent,” written and done into colour by Hendrik 
Willem Van Loon. 

“Dear Children: History is the most fascinating and 
entertaining and instructive of arts.” A book to delight 
children of all ages. 

“The Story of Marco Polo,” by Noah Brooks. 

“Olaf the Glorious,” by Robert Leighton. 

An historical story of the Viking age. 

“The Conquerors of Mexico,” retold from Prescott’s “Con¬ 
quest of Mexico,” by Henry Gilbert. 

8 


“The Conquerors of Peru,” retold from Prescott’s “Con¬ 
quest of Peru,” by Henry Gilbert. 

“Vikings of the Pacific,” by A. C. Laut. 

Adventures of Bering the Dane; the outlaw hunters of 
Russia; Benyowsky, the Polish pirate; Cook and Vancou¬ 
ver, Drake, and other soldiers of fortune on the West Coast 
of America. 

“The Argonauts of Faith,” by Basil Mathews. 

The Adventures of the “Mayflower” Pilgrims. 
“Pathfinders of the West,” by A. C. Laut. 

The thrilling story of the adventures of the men who 
discovered the great Northwest. 

“Beyond the Old Frontier,” by George Bird Grinnell. 

Adventures of Indian Fighters, Hunters, and Fur- 
Traders on the Pacific Coast. 

“A History of Travel in America,” by Seymour Dunbar, 
illustrated from old woodcuts and engravings. 4 vol¬ 
umes. 

An interesting book for children who wish to understand 
the problems and difficulties their grandfathers had in the 
conquest of the West. This is a standard book upon the 
subject of early travel, but is so readable as to be of in¬ 
terest to older children. 

“The Golden Book of the Dutch Navigators,” by Hendrik 
Willem Van Loon. 

Fully illustrated from old prints. 

The World’s Progress in Invention—Art —Music 
“Gabriel and the Hour Book,” by Evaleen Stein. 

How a boy learned from the monks how to grind and 
mix the colours for illuminating the beautiful hand-printed 

9 


books of the time and how he himself made books that are 
now treasured in the museums of France and England. 

“Historic Inventions,” by Rupert S. Holland. 

Stories of the invention of printing, the steam-engine, 
the spinning jenny, the safety-lamp, the sewing machine, 
electric light, and other wonders of mechanism. 

“A History of Everyday Things in England,” written and 
illustrated by Marjorie and C. V. B. Quennell. 
£ Volumes. 

A most fascinating book, profusely illustrated in black 
and white and in colour, giving a vivid picture of life in 
England from 1066-1799. It tells of wars and of home- 
life, of amusements and occupations, of art and literature, 
of science and invention. A book to be owned by every 
boy and girl. 

“First Steps in the Enjoyment of Pictures,” by Maude 
I. G. Oliver. 

A book designed to help children in their appreciation 
of art by giving them technical knowledge of the media, 
the draughtsmanship, the composition and the technique 
of well-known American pictures. 

“Knights of Art,” by Amy Steedman. 

Stories of Italian Painters. Attractively illustrated in 
colour from old masters. 

“Masters of Music,” by Anna Alice Chapin. 

“Story Lives of Men of Science,” by F. J. Rowbotham. 

“All About Treasures of the Earth,” by Frederick A. 
Talbot. 

A book that tells many interesting things about coal, 
salt, iron, rare metals and precious stones. 

10 


“The Boys’ Book of New Inventions,” by Harry E. Maule. 

An account of the machines and mechanical processes 
that are making the history of our time more dramatic 
than that of any other age since the world began. 

“Masters of Space,” by Walter Kellogg Towers. 

Stories of the wonders of telegraphing through the air 
and beneath the sea with signals, and of speaking across 
continents. 

“All About Railways,” by F. S. Hartnell. 

“The Man-of-War, What She Has Done and What She is 
Doing,” by Commander E. Hamilton Currey. 

True stories about galleys and pirate ships, about the 
Spanish Main and famous frigates, and about slave-hunt¬ 
ing expeditions in the days of old. 

The Democracy of To-Day 
“The Land of Fair Play,” by Geoffrey Parsons. 

“This book aims to make clear the great, unseen ser¬ 
vices that America renders each of us, and the active devo¬ 
tion each of us must yield in return for America to en¬ 
dure.” An excellent book on our government for boys 
and girls. 

“The American Idea as Expounded by American States¬ 
men,” compiled by Joseph B. Gilder. 

A good collection, including The Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence, The Constitution of the United States, the Mon¬ 
roe Doctrine, and the famous speeches of Washington, 
Lincoln, Webster and Roosevelt. 

“The Making of an American,” by Jacob A. Riis. 

The true story of a Danish boy who became one of 
America’s finest citizens. 


11 


“The Promised Land,” by Mary Antin. 

A true story about a little immigrant. “Before we 
came, the New World knew not the Old; but since we have 
begun to come, the Young World has taken the Old by the 
hand, and the two are learning to march side by side, seek¬ 
ing a common destiny.” 

Illustrated Histories in French 
(The colourful and graphic pictures make the histories 
beloved by all children whether they read the text or not.) 
“Voyages et Glorieuses Decouvertes des Grands Naviga- 
teurs et Explorateurs Francais, illustre par Edy 
Segrand.” 

“Collection d’Albums Historiques.” 

Louis XI, texte de Georges Montorgueil, aquarelles de 
Job. 

Francois I, texte de G. Gustave Tondouze, aquarelles de 
Job. 

Henri IV, texte de Georges Montorgueil, aquarelles de 
H. Vogel. 

Richelieu, texte de Th. Cahu, aquarelles de Maurice 
Leloir. 

Le Roy Soleil, texte de Gustave Tondouze, aquarelles de 
Maurice Leloir. 

Bonaparte, texte de Georges Montorgueil, aquarelles 
de Job. 

“Fabliaux et Contes du Moyen-Age”; illustrations de 
A. Robida. \ 


Chicago 

American Library Association 
1922 


LIBRARY 


OF 


CONGRESS 







Gaylord Bros. 
Makers 

Syracuse, N. Y. 
PAT. JAff. 21, 1908 



































